Moby told Billboard magazine in 2000 that "Porcelain" was inspired by an ill-fated romance. "I was involved with this really, really wonderful woman, and I loved her very much," he explained. "But I knew deep in my heart of hearts that we had no business being romantically involved. So, it's sort of about being in love with someone but knowing you shouldn't be with them."
The track featured Moby's vocals backed by a sample of vocalist Pilar Basso.
The song's popularity was enhanced by being featured on the soundtrack of the 2000 movie The Beach and in the UK it became Moby's highest charted song to date. Moby recalled to Rolling Stone: "Strangely enough, that's probably the most signature song on the record, and I actually had to be talked into including it. When I first recorded it, I thought it was average. I didn't like the way I produced it, I thought it sounded mushy, I thought my vocals sounded really weak. I couldn't imagine anyone else wanting to listen to it. When the tour for Play started, 'Porcelain' was the song during the set where most people would get a drink. But then Danny Boyle put it in the movie The Beach with Leo DiCaprio. It was Leo DiCaprio's first film since Titanic and everyone went to go see it. He used the music so well in the movie. I think that's when a lot of people became aware of the record."
This was released as the sixth single from Play. In the US, it peaked at #14 on the Dance Club Songs chart. One of six (out of eight) singles from the album to land in the Top 40 of the UK Singles chart, it fared the best, peaking at #5.
Moby also told Billboard he thought the delicate, melodic track was a nice contrast to some of the more aggressive tunes assaulting modern rock airwaves at the dawn of the new millennium. "I think that diversity is a very healthy quality when it comes to programming," he said. "I'm certainly not criticizing modern rock radio, but it does seem like a lot of stuff that I hear does sort of sound the same. A lot of it is angry white guys who have listened to a lot of Limp Bizkit records. I would love to see a return to perhaps some of the more adventurous, open-minded formatting and programming that I grew up with in the '70s and '80s."
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Porcelain is also the name of Moby's 2016 memoir, which covers his life and career up to the release of Play.
Two music videos were made. The first was directed by Jonas Akerlund (Madonna's "
Ray Of Light"), and the entirety of the clip is focused on a human eye that reflects images of Moby performing the tune. This version was only released in Europe until 2001 when he included it on his video album,
Play: The DVD.
In the second video, directed by Nick Brandt, Moby takes a ride throughout the city and countryside in the back seat of a driverless 1972 Cadillac DeVille. Brandt also directed videos for Michael Jackson ("
Earth Song," "
Stranger In Moscow") and Jewel ("
Hands"), among others.
This was also used in a Canadian commercial for Baileys Irish Cream and an ad for the Volkswagen Polo in 2000.